Posted on: Sunday, April 24, 2005

AFTER DEADLINE

By Anne Harpham
Advertiser Senior Editor

The story of the Massie case remains compelling, even more than 70 years after the notorious events in the affair.

There is a new book on the 1931 incident by University of Hawai'i professor David Stannard, and it was the subject of PBS' "American Experience" Monday night.

As many of you know, a number of people missed the broadcast of "American Experience: The Massie Affair" because we published an incorrect time in the TV grid Monday morning and the Tube Notes column on the same page.

The time was also incorrect in the TV Week in the April 17 paper.

The show aired at 8 p.m.; we listed it at 9 p.m.

We did get it right in a listing that accompanied Wanda Adams' April 17 review of Stannard's book.

Kalowena Komeiji, vice president for community relations at PBS Hawaii, said the station got nearly 100 calls from angry viewers the day after the show aired.

We also got a large number of calls, and most of those callers were quite understandably incredulous.

Here's what happened:

We get our TV listings from Tribune Media in New York. "American Experience" usually is shown here at 9 p.m. on Mondays. More than a month ago, however, PBS Hawaii decided that it would show "The Massie Affair" at an earlier hour because of the large local interest in the story.

PBS Hawaii routinely supplies schedule information to Tribune Media, and in the material sent on March 15, PBS Hawaii listed the April 18 "American Experience" at 8 p.m. Two weeks later, an updated listing also showed 8 p.m. for American Experience.

Tribune Media has acknowledged it did not pick up on the difference in the April 18 schedule until quite late. The TV grids it supplied to us for the week of April 17 showed "American Experience" at 9 p.m.

Tribune Media updated its listing two days after Custom Publishing, which produces the TV Week and daily TV grids for The Advertiser, had downloaded the material. Unfortunately, no one flagged the correction for us.

Adams got the time right because she went to the PBS Web site to look up the time for the program.

We all wish this error had been caught in time and apologize to those who missed the program.

We do take these glitches seriously. As a result of this error, Custom Publishing has been talking with Tribune Media about a midweek update in the form of a memo to flag late changes and corrections.

Komeiji said that because of the large volume of calls about the show, PBS Hawaii has pre-empted a Sunday afternoon program and will re-broadcast "American Experience: The Massie Affair" at 2 p.m. today.

Senior editor Anne Harpham is The Advertiser's reader representative. Reach her at aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8033.